2 comments:

First of all, the $535M may have been a loan guarantee not a grant. News reports are unclear. If it was a loan guarantee, some or all of it might not have been lost.

Secondly, the company couldn't compete against Chinese imports funded by the Chinese government. That's a problem for conservative ideologues. Trade destroys jobs. We never should allow imports of anything we can make in the US, especially if it's being subsidized but our stuff isn't.

Finally, the whole incident is a good illustration of the folly of relying on capitalists to implement public policy. If the government wants new technology, it should develop it rather than trust capitalists to do it. If the government wants jobs, it should hire workers rather than rely on capitalists to do it. Capitalism has failed. It's time we faced that fact and moved-on.